Names on RUC memorial tablets ‘a litany of carnage’

There is a “real depth of feeling” attached to memorial tablets in police stations and they must not be either “moved or removed,” a body representing former officers has said.
By Mark Rainey
Published 3rd Sep 2021, 06:45 GMT
Two large tablets in Newry police station contain the names of 59 officers who were murdered while serving in the old RUC ‘H Division’ area between 1957 and 1993Two large tablets in Newry police station contain the names of 59 officers who were murdered while serving in the old RUC ‘H Division’ area between 1957 and 1993
Two large tablets in Newry police station contain the names of 59 officers who were murdered while serving in the old RUC ‘H Division’ area between 1957 and 1993

Responding to a controversial recommendation in the review of policing report for south Armagh, the RUC GC Association said the plaques “reflect a litany of carnage” and sacrosanct.

Chief Constable Simon Byrne has faced scathing criticism this week after giving his backing to the 50 recommendations contained in the 170-page report – including a commitment to explore the relocation of memorials to “an agreed space in the station away from public locations and main thoroughfares” .

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Tom Gorringe, who chairs the association’s central co-ordinating group, believes the report launch was handled “insensitively,” and remains unconvinced that assurances given by Chief Constable Simon Byrne will protect the memorials.

“One of the aims of the [RUC GC] Association is to make sure that those memorials are not moved, changed or destroyed,” he said.

“If you move a memorial then you have ‘removed’ it. You can dance on the head of a pin as to what move and remove mean but, in this situation, the truth is that they mean one and the same thing.

“This idea of hiding it out for view, including from people who may have been perpetrators, is more than a little insensitive to the victims.

“It was a very insensitive way to launch a report.”

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Mr Gorringe, who spent ten years of his policing career in south Armagh, said it was regrettable that the families of former security force members living in the area do not appear to have been consulted.

He said “Look at those two memorial tablets in Newry. They reflect a litany of carnage and there is real depth of feeling there for the bereaved families, and how many people were convicted of those murders? Not one I can think of.

“And what effort is being made to convict anyone for those murders? Nothing. And now the government is saying ‘let’s draw a line under it.’

“It seems as if one side is having all of the cake and eating it, while the other is just getting stick.”

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Mr Gorringe remains to be convinced that, after all the efforts of the PSNI to become more acceptable in the Crossmaglen area, full support for policing will be forthcoming.

He added: “If you travel around south Armagh you will see plenty of memorials to other people, and you can start in The Square in Crossmaglen.

“The fear that was engendered during the Troubles has not gone away. There is a lot that needs to change and not just the police.”

READ: Memorial to fallen police officers returned to original position

READ: RUC memorials ‘not being taken away’ says PSNI